Power

House Committee Holds Holder in Contempt, House Vote Next Week

By Mike Catalini

+

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., right, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., left, the ranking member, considers whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 20, 2012. In a showdown with President Barack Obama’s administration, House Republicans are pressing for more Justice Department documents on the flawed gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious that resulted in hundreds of guns illicitly purchased in Arizona gun shops winding up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Along a party line 23-17 vote, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt on Wednesday for failing to deliver documents relating to the botched Fast and Furious operation aimed at Mexican drug and gun cartels.

After the committee vote, Republican House leaders announced the resolution will go to the House floor next week for a vote. If it passes, the contempt resolution would be forwarded to a U.S. Attorney.

But if Holder turns over the documents before the scheduled vote, House GOP leadership will give the committee "an opportunity to review in hopes of resolving the issue," House Speaker John Boehner said in a release.

For weeks, the committee, led by Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has been fighting for more documents about the case, which led to the death of a federal agent.

On Wednesday morning, Holder successfully asked the White House to assert executive privilege over the confidential documents, but the legal move does not appear to be enough to stymie the House GOP efforts.

ADVERTISEMENT

Boehner's office issued a statement challenging why the administration has chosen this course of action, and raised the possibility of a cover-up.

"Until now, everyone believed that the decisions regarding 'Fast and Furious' were confined to the Department of Justice. The White House decision to invoke executive privilege implies that White House officials were either involved in the 'Fast and Furious' operation or the cover-up that followed," asserted Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

"The Administration has always insisted that wasn't the case," said Steel. "Were they lying, or are they now bending the law to hide the truth?"